This is the caboose I created to bring back the scene: Great Northern Railway caboose, X187.

GN X187 was one of four combines converted to cabooses. The others were X182, 183, and 186. X187 was originally a second class coach #3707 built by American Car & Foundry in 1913.

In 1951, by then the coach-sleeper was converted to a combine #579.
In 1966, the car was renumbered as X187 and assigned to caboose service, carrying the slogan “SAFETY TODAY EVERY DAY”.

In 1970, Burlington Northern Railroad renumbered X183 to BN #11273, X187 to BN #11478, while X186 kept the original number according to “Friends of Burlington Northern Railroad” web page.

In 1976, BN #11478 (ex-GN X187) was retired and now preserved at Fort Peck, MT.

The combine/caboose was 61’5” inside and 70’5” long over the buffers. It had 28 seats, a lavatory on the passenger end and a 30’ inside long baggage compartment.

Some prototype photos are found in books and on web pages. Morning Sun GN Color Guide has a photo of X187. Photo of X186 was found at “Passenger Car Photo Index” web page. Photos of preserved BN #11478 (ex-GN X187) are found at “Great Northern Empire” and “Passenger Car Photo Index” web pages.

In my prototype photo, we can barely see relatively long number and a slogan. The number looks fresh in the photo: it might be renumbered cars BN #11273 or #11478 (ex-GN X187). Photos of both sides of the car available for X187 drove me creating the exact car.

I’m trying to create Great Northern Railway caboose X187 for my “bringin’ back the scene” project.

We can find pictures of GN caboose X187 in books and web pages. But I couldn’t find any drawings. The only information I got is that it was 70’5” long over the buffers according to “Great Northern Empire” web page. So, I tried to draw the plan from the photo.

I used the photo of brother combine GN #585 also preserved at Fort Peck, MT, because the photo was one of the clearest among photos I found.

I retraced the method of perspective drawing to deduce the opening arrangement of the car. Figure above shows the way I tried. Figure below shows the deduced prototype plan (This time, I planned to use MTL passenger car bodies. So, I referred to MTL’s model for elevations; windows seem rather tall and letter board is a little narrow).

: fig. 2, deduced prototype plan

Next, I scanned the MTL body and decided the plan where to cut and join. Figure below shows the kitbashing plan. Red lined squares show the filling, while the green lined squares show the new opening.

I’m trying to create Great Northern Railway caboose X187 for my “bringin’ back the scene” project.

I cut the MTL Heavyweight Paired Window Coach Car body to flat sides for the ease of work. I filled and opened the windows according to my plan shown before. Narrow window and baggage doors came from MTL Parlor Car. I shove the gutter to make letter board taller. This make the elevation a little more accurate to the prototype.

I added slim brass flat bar to represent the gutter. Some thin styrene sheets were used to represent the siding. I applied some rivets using Archer rivet decal. I kept the straight handrails represented on the sides of doors of the model. I used BLMA parts #93, Rear Fan Grab Iron for curved handrails.

I re-assembled the sides with shortened floor to make the car body. I had to add thin styrene sheet to the side of the floor to regenerate the thickness of the saw I used. Modified partition wall, seats, window glazing and the weight from MTL were re-installed to this car body.

I’m trying to create Great Northern Railway caboose X187 for my “bringin’ back the scene” project.

Floor was also shortened to fit the car body. The prototype car doesn’t have doors at boarding deck. So, I had to shave the deck floor precisely to represent the open deck. This ruins the original body mount coupler base. I saved the base and re-applied to the new deck floor.

I cut some under floor equipments represented on the MTL model referring to the prototype photos. Baggage door stirrups came from MTL Railway Post Office Car. Train line air hoses are BLMA products. Brass rod cut lever is held by BLMA pin for locomotive cut lever. Tracks came from Athearn 50’ Express Reefer. I cut the track-mounted couplers off and added end frames to them.

I also shortened the roof. I added thin styrene to represent the edge of clerestory roof lost during the work. I shove the ventilators off the model and added modified Garland ventilator parts produced by Tomix. Smoke stacks are MTL parts #1077.

: renovated boarding deck and roof

I spray painted the car body red, roof with silver and under frame with black. I used Microscale decal #60-757 for the letterings. It took about 3 months to complete the work; slow hand.